dudeman17

I've wracked my brain and I can't remember the name of the guy or the book. Maybe I can ask a couple of the people I hung out with in those days if they remember, but it's been a while since I've talked to them, and I'm a dinosaur, I don't do facebook or any of that crap, so it might take a bit of digging to find contact for them. A quick search indicates that 'Ha Ha Ha' was written in '83. Like I said, I read that book in probably the late 90's, but I couldn't say when it was written. Mr. Blevins says he read Ha Ha Ha and thought that it wasn't the author's first work. I'd be curious if they were possibly written by the same guy. I'd also be curious if you or Mr. Blevins figured the seven clues supposedly contained in Ha Ha Ha.

A few thoughts... First, regarding the idea of deploying the parachute while still standing on the stairs, I have to second everything wolfriverjoe said about that. Plus, deploying off the stairs into the fast turbulent air behind the aircraft would actually increase the chances of a malfunction, as well as the possibility of the parachute entangling with part of the aircraft. Would not be practical at all. And if Cooper was an experienced jumper, knew enough to find a pack and data card, he should be able to give the rig a gear check enough to reasonably ensure that he wouldn't have a total pack closure malfunction. As for the gutsiness of making a one-parachute jump without a reserve, again, as joe said, malfunctions are actually pretty rare, plus the fact that it was a bailout rig and not a sport main means that that parachute basically WAS a reserve. And Cooper probably knew that by the lack of D-rings for a front-mount reserve, and the fact that it had a pack and data card at all - sport mains do not have them. Also, base jumping is pretty much always a one-parachute jump, and not with rigger-packed reserves. I was intrigued by the mention of that book 'Hahaha', supposedly written by Cooper, and its account that Cooper did not jump over the Washington woods, but closer to Reno. Here's why: For background, as older jumpers will know, an integral era of sport skydiving history occurred in the 60's and 70's at a few drop zones in California; Taft and Arvin near the Bakersfield area of central CA, and Elsinore in SoCal. Bunch of barnstorming, daredevil, black death artists pioneered skydiving from a solo sport to a group activity known as relative work. Many of these people were Vietnam veterans from the 60's and other military. Anyway, some years ago, probably late 90's, I was jumping regularly at a drop zone in Taft. For a while, this guy would show up and hang out with us who was an older jumper and part of that era. He had written a book, his attempt at the not so great American novel. The book was basically a love story, and the main characters and plot line were fiction, but it was set in the real world of that skydiving era, and included many real-life people and events. Well, in the second half of the book as a secondary plot line, one of his characters pulled off the hijacking. Never mentioned the Cooper name or that it was national news, but the places and sequence of events were exactly the Cooper case. Except that he, too, had the hijacker jump on the approach to Reno. Somebody here mentioned someone witnessing Cooper back down the stairs, but I always thought the story was that the only people on board were the pilots and the one stewardess, but that after takeoff Cooper sent her up with the pilots so that there was nobody in the back with him. In this guy's book, the hijacker went to the back stairs and jumped up and down once, to give the pilots the idea that he left over Washington, but actually stayed on board until the Reno approach. Did this guy know something? Was he just writing pseudo-fiction? (Was he Cooper?) Who knows. As for suspects... There are a number of people who think they have the case solved. That Derek clown insists it was Klansnic. Jo was convinced it was her late husband. Blevins likes Kenny C. There was an ad in Parachutist magazine the other month for a book claiming Walt Reca was the definitive Cooper. But the FBI has closed the case as unsolved. Does that mean that they have evidence that disproves all of those, or do they just not have enough to beyond-a-reasonable-doubt any of them? I've heard that there were anywhere from a couple hundred to possibly over a thousand people who were at one time or another considered possible suspects. I'd be curious to see that list. I've also heard that the FBI holds out hope that someone will remember something, present a new suspect or evidence. Some people have done that, come forward saying 'I think it was my uncle/dad's friend/husband...' That leads me to wonder. If you thought someone you knew/cared about might be a notorious criminal, would you come forward? Risk getting someone in trouble? Or would you keep your mouth shut? I suppose if they've passed and are beyond prosecution you might want to know if the truth could be determined. But would you want to sully their name? Perhaps you'd be lionizing them as a folk hero? Hmmm.....

One of the best things about skydiving is the bond, the camaraderie, the brotherhood. A skydiver can walk onto a drop zone anywhere in the world and instantly be among family. And to whatever degree that you have tangented this family by writing in this forum for years, you are welcome. You've always shared personal things about yourself, and you seem like a genuine human being. Any skydiver that's been around for a while knows what it's like to lose a friend suddenly and unexpectedly, so we feel for you. Sincere condolences for your loss. Cry, scream, go outside and kick rocks, come back in and pet your cat. When you go to his house Saturday, tell stories. Poignant ones, funny ones. When someone goes, there's nothing you can do about it but revel in that they were your friend. BSBD

Again, I get your frustration and wasn't implying that you should just suck it up. I was mainly addressing a particular thing you said, and trying to give you a few other ideas as to why that may have happened. But to be sure, if you called to make a reservation and were told that there would be an instructor for you, then one should have been assigned to you. Definitely talk to someone. The dzo may have a lot of other stuff on his plate, the instructors deal with the students they're assigned to, so ideally if there's a school manager between them, that would be the person. Something else you said, though... You said that you're still jumping with an instructor, but then you said that they have sent you up by yourself before. That doesn't make sense. If you're just a couple jumps in and still under the direct supervision of an instructor, they shouldn't be sending you up by yourself. Could you elaborate on that?

Depending where you are in your progression, that might not be something you should worry about. If you're still jumping with an instructor and one isn't available at the moment, and/or you have yet to be trained for your next jump, then that doesn't really affect you, they're just looking for an up-jumper who can make a quick call. But if you're cleared for solo's and wind/weather isn't a factor, then yes you should be offered one of those slots. The same for there being student rigs packed and hanging on the wall, that's not really the factor, it's whether there is an instructor available. I understand your being frustrated, but it sounds like this wasn't your normal experience with them. Unfortunately, they often favor the walk-in tandems because they don't want those people steering their friends to the other dz. You should have said something before you left, and you should definitely talk to the dzo about it. Don't be confrontational, just express your frustration with the situation and see what they have to say.

I would have to agree with that. Perhaps mikelock34 is new to the sport and found that it is practiced more safely than he expected. It would be interesting to hear from him again and see if his perception has changed since his original post.

Geez, it's hard to rely on the details of 30 year old memories, but now that I watch that and think about it, I seem to remember him saying something about starting out on flipped-over right hand guitars, and when he got left handed ones he was used to the strings that way, so that's how he strung 'em.

I was saddened when I saw this on the news last night. Many years ago, probably late 80's - early 90's, there was an extreme sports expo held at a lakeside resort over a 3-day weekend, with vendor booths promoting dirt bikes, jet skis, that sort of thing, and a buddy and I ran a booth promoting our dropzone. Dick Dale was the entertainment, playing sets on Saturday and Sunday nights. Absolutely shredded, and if I remember correctly, he played his guitar upside down and backwards, like Jimi Hendrix did. He befriended us, and my buddy and I hung out with him and his wife all weekend. Genuinely nice, down to earth people. I still have a hat that he gave us. He lived on a ranch in Twentynine Palms that had its own airstrip, and he even invited us to organize a skydiving boogie there. But he was many years clean and sober and said no drugs or alcohol would be tolerated on his property, so out of respect we didn't even try to organize it. Talented performer, class act. A great loss to the music world.

I won't give you crap about believing. But I am very amused by your belief that I will come to believe you are correct. How conceited of you. And yet you have given me crap about it. Jump a rig without an AAD. Don't deploy either parachute. You will go in. Is that my conceited belief? Nah, just reality. I get that you don't believe me, and I don't expect to convince you. But you might as well be trying to convince me that my neighbors don't exist because you haven't met them. Rest assured, there are others who live on my street. Back to the jokes...

I actually believe in God. Yeah yeah, most of you will give me crap about that, but I don't give a fuck. I guarantee you that there will come a moment when you do too. Whether that moment comes in the nick of time or an instant too late is your problem. Anyway, here's a few that might make you snicker... ------ A bumper sticker I once saw- Jesus is coming - Look busy! ----- An oldie I remember from somewhere- The scene is the parable where the folks are about to stone the hooker to death. Jesus walks up and says, "Ye who are without sin cast the first stone!" This old lady steps forward and beans the chick right in the head with a rock. Jesus turns to her and says, "Mom, you're missing the point." ----- My own cynical joke- The Rapture has already happened, but so few people went that nobody noticed. Flame on...

Craig you're mistaken. You're thinking of Dan Foley, who is still very much alive.

It might be worth a try to notify manufacturers and other dzs to be on the lookout for someone trying to buy the same number of pax harnesses.

Since everybody is getting into the minutiae, I suppose turning the rings might make it easier to tell if they've been stretched/warped/oblonged. Varying the direction in which they take the load of opening shock may help prevent them from becoming so. Whether that's better or worse than the grease/dirt/wear issue is something I'm sure one of you will speculate on.

Alright, admittedly I'm a dinosaur, but here's my nickel's worth. The best altimeter on the planet is - the planet. I jumped for years without any altimeter, because a good visual sense of altitude is the one altimeter that will never break down and lie to you. Get a good visual sense of altitude, and not by looking down at the ground or objects, but more in the periphery at a 45 or so, where the 'shelf' is. That way it's not dependent on familiar topography or a definitive look, it's just the 'shelf' gets to a point where you know it's time to go, then from there it's just degrees of urgency. It even transcends putting a number to it. Here's a drill: On your ride to altitude, at points when it occurs to you, look out the window, not at specific objects, but just the lay of the land around, and guess your altitude, then check your altimeters to see how accurate you are. I started wearing an altimeter again when I got instructor ratings. I wear an analog, because that's what I've always had, they're easy to see, and they never need batteries. I've never worn an audible, 'cause I just can't fathom the idea that I ought to need one.

Donald Trump for USPA President! (After all, Ivanka has done a tandem.)

I'd like to see evidence of that. My guess is when suspended from the harness connection point during a malfunction, a jumper's head position has little or nothing to do with what happens when the cutaway occurs relative to other factors like spin-induced body attitude, body position at the time of release, etc. I don't have any evidence for you other than that I've watched it happen and have talked to others that it has happened to. As you've said, certainly there are other factors that can have an effect. Someone chopping from a spinning mal is going to get flicked however it happens. A MARD would probably affect one's body position, an RSL perhaps less so. But someone under a larger, docile canopy with a non-spinning malfunction, if the weight of their head is craned back behind their center of gravity, certainly that could effect a backwards roll post-cutaway. I'm not saying that this is the end-all be-all reason not to look up, just another factor in the argument against it.

Something else that I'm not sure I've seen mentioned is that your body often follows your head. I've seen people who were looking up at their malfunction as they cut away roll backwards onto their back because of it. Looking down at your handles helps ensure that you'll roll forwards. A lot of people think (and this comes up a lot for tandem pax exits) that if your head is back it helps you arch. That may be so, but the important element of the arch is hips forward, shoulders/knees/legs back. If you've got that, you really shouldn't need your head back. And a couple people mentioned that looking at the mal or the ground can cause stress and hesitation of the EPs. As NickDG used to say, "Don't look at the dogs, work the lock".

This brought me a smile. My first reserve ride was on a 26' Navy Conical that was four years older than I was.

My guess would be in the 80's, when the 'higher' performance 7-cells were the norm. Ravens, Cruiselites, Comets, Pegasus', those sorts of canopies. When you could skydive and base jump with the same gear. I kind of liken that era to the muscle car era of the 60's and 70's. They didn't go as fast or handle as well as what you can get today, but they were badass and we had a lot of fun with them.

Heaven by Rusted Root https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAF8ksUNSCo

Scary story. Just to clarify, the skyhook disconnect that I, and I believe skytribe, refer to is NOT the RSL/skyhook shackle disconnecting from the riser ring. That should be part of not only a gear check, but also the final check before getting into exit position, as well as the handles check after setting the drogue. The skyhook disconnection referred to is that the hook connecting the main canopy to the reserve bag can come off, rendering the system a standard RSL.

Interesting discussion of EPs. The guy definitely should have had his hand on the reserve handle, not the riser. As others have stated, having his hand on the riser could result in an hesitation and entanglement, or an injury that could prevent a reserve pull or correct control of the reserve. I can kind of see some peoples' point that with a skyhook, in the moment it takes to confirm a successful cutaway you're already at line stretch, but as has been said sometimes they disconnect. I have had that happen, and you can feel the difference. Personally, I advocate pulling the handles. Anyone else here old enough to have gone through a static line student program, remember DRCP's? *Shrug* But what got me to write was this: I don't think we should be promoting races to see who's quickest. Yes, we teach students a two hands each handle sequenced EP, but most people at some point will transition to a one hand per handle EP. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen someone on their first cutaway immediately grab both handles and jam them simultaneously and nearly have an entanglement. Smooth, deliberate and accurate is better than fastfastfast.

OK, further speculation just for the heck of it... So the aircraft has catastrophic damage, it is going to crash, but everything else is in your favor - it is stable, you're at a reasonable altitude, there is a safe exit point and you have every chance of exiting, opening, and landing safely. You have a tandem rig, meaning you can take somebody with you. Who do you take? The hottest girl/most attractive person to you? The young brilliant kid with a lifetime of potential ahead of them? The wealthiest person in 1st class? Who, indeed...

And when somebody thought they were 'inventing' the PRO pack, they were really just cleaning up the good old fashioned trash pack.